Heineken has announced it will be increasing the price of its beer and cider by more than 15% after Christmas due to ‘unprecedented cost pressures’.
It means that drinkers will need to pay at least £7 for some draft Heineken beers from 16 January, when prices will rise by 15.8% on average, The Daily Mail has reported.
Pub landlords have also been told that on top of increasing wholesale prices, the brewery would be reducing the alcohol content on Fosters from 4% to 3.7%, citing ‘consumer trends towards lower strength products’.
An email from Heineken seen by the MailOnline read: ’Like many UK manufacturers, Heineken UK is facing unprecedented cost increases on a number of critical inputs used to make and distribute beer and cider.
’This is predominantly driven by the significant rise in energy prices, which is also having a dramatic impact on the costs of other goods including glass, aluminium and malted barley.
’We are continually looking at ways to mitigate cost volatility and throughout the year we have taken a number of steps to drive greater efficiencies in our business. However, due to the scale of recent and ongoing input cost increases, it is necessary to change the price of our products.
’As a result, we will be increasing our wholesale selling prices by an average of 15.8%.’
In February this year Heineken had warned that beer prices would go up as it was facing inflation that was “off the charts” with its costs increasing by around 15%.
